D2502

American Music

James P. Johnson & Jelly Roll Morton

Collins Cover Announcement 

JAZZ MUSICIANS 

James P. Johnson and Jelly Roll Morton

When I start an individual cover I never know exactly what I'm going to end up with as a final product. This is even more true with a set. For the Jazz Musicians I decided on almost a caricature style of portrayal combined with an intense background of vibrant and vivid colors. My goal was to try to capture some of the mood and soul of that great Age of Jazz. I often veer off the beaten track, as you know, in terms of my commitment to keeping your COLLINS collection exciting and different. This issue provided me with such an opportunity and now, looking at this ten stamp, five cover mini-set, I must say that I'm very pleased with the outcome and that the set has exceeded my expectations.

James Price Johnson was known as the Father of the Stride Piano. He developed powerful and recurrent octave-spanning left-hand innovations and my cachet shows him with his left hand on the keyboard. His rhythmic and harmonic intensities had great influence on the jazz pianists that followed him.

Ferdinand Joseph LaMenthe claimed that he invented jazz in 1902. He was a brilliant pianist, composer, and arranger who was a professional musician at age 12. Among his more than 150 jazz classics are "Kansas City Stomp" and "Dead Man Blues". We will forever know and appreciate him by his stage name -- the legendary Jelly Roll Morton.

This cover is the final one in my set of five. Collector reaction to the previous four has been wonderful, and I still have a few in very limited numbers. If you need them, don't delay. This group of COLLINS Covers MUST be viewed as a set to experience the full impact. They are $11.25 each.

D2501 - Coleman Hawkins and Louis Armstrong 

D2503 - Charlie Parker and Eubie Blake 

D2504 - Charles Mingus and Thelonious Monk 

D2505 - Erroll Garner and John William Coltrane

It is with a sense of accomplishment that I offer the final Jazz cover to you. James P. Johnson and Jelly Roll Morton. Item #D2502. $11.25